Weft thread cutting arrangement



Dec. 30, 1969 v. SVATY ETAL WEFT THREAD CUTTING ARRANGEMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 18, 1968 I Dec. 30, 1969 v. SVATY-ETAL WEFT THREAD CUTTING ARRANGEMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed March 18, 1968 Dec. 30, 1969 v. SVATY ETAL WEFT THREAD CUTTING ARRANGEMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 18, 1968 United States Patent O 3,487,436 WEFI THREAD CUTTING ARRANGEMENT Vladimir Svaty, 366 Kraluv Haj, andv Jiri Zlatohlavek, 172 Zeleznicni, both of Liberec, Czechoslovakia Filed Mar. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 714,122 Int. Cl. D03d 47/36 US. Cl. 139-125 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE After insertion of a weft into a warp shed by a weft inserting gripper shuttle, the gripper shuttle is stopped in a shuttle box. A thread guide releases the weft thread from the gripper shuttle and inserts a new weft thread into the same. The new and released weft threads are placed in such a position as to extend between the open blades of a cutting means which is operated to cut off both weft threads simultaneously.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Looms are known in which a gripper shuttle has clamping means into which a new weft thread is inserted so that during the following pick of the gripper shuttle or similar weft inserting member, the new weft is pulled off a supply bobbin and cut off. The clamped end of the inserted weft thread is released, and blown away by a suitably placed air nozzle. At the same time, a new weft is inserted into the gripper shuttle which is reversed with a shuttle box receiving the same, to be ready for the next following pick in the opposite direction. It is also necessary to cut off the new weft thread after insertion into the clamping means of the gripper shuttle, and before the pick.

The prior art arrangements serving this purpose do not obtain a full cooperation between the control means for detaching and inserting weft threads into the gripper shuttle, and the cutting means for cutting the two weft threads.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is one object of the invention to overcome the disadvantage of known cutting arranagements for weft threads, and to provide a weft thread cutting arrangement of simple construction which operates in synchronism with the other functions of the loom to cut off the new and the old weft thread simultaneously by a single operation of a cutting means.

Another object of the invention is to provide one operating and drive means for opening and closing the cutting means, and for operating the control means by which the new weft thread, and the weft thread detached from the weft inserting gripper shuttle are inserted into the cutting means.

In accordance with the invention, a single cutting device is provided betwen the warp shed and the shuttle box for cutting off the old an new weft threads simultaneously.

In a first phase of the sequence of operations, the old and new weft threads are placed between the cutting edges of a pair of scissor-like blades, in the second phase the old weft thread is detached from the gripper of the gripper shuttle by the motion of a control needle, and in the third phase, the cutting means simultaneously cuts off the two weft threads. A four jointed linkage connects the control needle with the cutting means, one blade of which is operated by a stationary cam to move between an open and a closed cutting position.

A method for cutting weft threads in accordance with the invention comprises the steps of inserting a weft thread into a warp shed by a weft inserting member, such as a gripper shuttle, stopping the weft inserting member 3,487,436 Patented Dec. 30, 1969 outside of the warp shed, releasing the inserted weft thread from the weft inserting member, attaching a new weft thread to the weft inserting member, and simultaneously cutting both weft threads between the weft insetting member and the warp shed.

One embodiment of an apparatus of the invention comprises a weft inserting gripper shuttle; a shuttle box for holding the gripper shuttle after a pick outside of the warp shed, control means for releasing the inserted weft thread from the clamping means of the gripper shuttle, and for attaching a new weft thread supplied from a supply bobbin to the gripper shuttle, cutting means located betwen the shuttle box and the warp shed in a position for receiving and simultaneously cutting off the inserted and new weft threads, an operating means for first actuating the control means and then actuating the cutting means.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cutting means includes a first blade and a second blade The operating means includes a turnable carrier supporting the first blade, drive means for angularly displacing the carrier with the first blade, an articulated linkage connecting the carrier with a control member which places the released weft thread in the gap between the blades of the cutting means, and a cam for turning the second blade to a cutting position.

The conrtol means include a threading means having an eye for a new weft thread, and being operable for pressing the clamping means of the gripper shuttle to a position releasing the inserted weft thread whereupon the new weft thread is placed in the clamping means of the gripper shuttle. In this position of the needle, the new weft thread is placed in the gap betwen the blades of the cutting means in which the control member places the released old weft. Consequently, when the second blade is moved along the cam by the moving first blade the second blade moves to the cutting position and cuts off both weft threads.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cam follower portion of the second blade is a pin guided in a curved cam ,slot of a stationary cover plate covering the cutting means, carrier and linkage.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a cutting arrangement according to the invention, a cover plate being shown partly broken off;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating an inoperative position of the cutting apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating an intermediate position of the cutting apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating the cutting position of the apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating the cutting means; and

FIG. 6 is a section along line A-A in FIG. 5 and illustrating the mounting of the cutting means on its carrier.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A support 1 is part of the slay of the loom, and carries a turnable shuttle box 27 having a slot for receiving a gripper shuttle 17 which has a resilient clamping plate 18 for clamping a weft thread 23. In the position of FIG. 1, gripper shuttle 17 has just been picked from the right toward the shuttle box 27 and has pulled weft thread 18 through a warp shed shown at the right of FIG. 1.

The apparatus of the invention is secured to an end face of support 1 by screws 8, and includes a body 2 and a cover plate 7. An air supply tube 4 passes through body 2 and opens with a nozzle 5 into a cavity of casing 2, 3 for blowing off thread ends 9 cut off by cutting means 3, 3a so that the thread ends are blown through a channel 10 formed in body portion 2 by pair of opposite blocks. Cover plate 7, which is only partly shown in FIG. 1, abuts the blocks 2a.

As best seen in FIG. 2, cover plate 7 has a curved cam slot 25 into which a cam follower, such as a pin and a roll 11 mounted on blade 3a projects. Blade 3 has a blade portion and a supporting portion inserted into a pair of grooves 19 in a carrier 12 which is mounted for angular turning movement on support body 2.

As best seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, a pin 13 has a projection 13a located in a bore of blade portion 3 to detachably secure blade to carrier 12. A spring 21 urges pin 13 to the holding position, and a pin 12 crossing the pin and having ends located in holes of the carrier secures pin 13 and thereby a blade 3 for normal operations. Upon depression of pin 13, 13a against the action of spring 21, blade 3 can be pulled out of the carrier for servicing or grinding of the blade.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 6, carrier 12 has two spaced sector shaped parts connected by pivot pins 12a and 12b. A drive arm 16 is connected with carrier 12 by a pivot pin 12b, and is reeiprocated from a cam on the cam shaft of the loom so that carrier 12, and thereby cutting means 3, 3a are angularly displaced between the positions 'I, II, III shown in FIGS. 2 to 4.

'Pivot 12a connects carrier 12 with a link 14 which is connected by a pivot 14a to a support lever 6a which carries a control member 6. Lever 6a is turnable about a pivot 15 secured to casing body 2, and the articulated linkage 14, 6a causes angular displacement of control member 6 in accordance with the movement of drive member 16 and carrier 12, which turns together with cutting means 3 and 3a.

When carrier 12 turns with cutting means 3, 3a between the positions I, II, III, the cam follower 11 of blade 3a is moved along cam slot 25 which is shaped in such a manner that blade 3a turns relative to blade 3 and is in a closed cutting position when cam follower 11 is at the end of cam slot 25 due to the turning of carrier 12, as shown in FIG. 4.

OPERATION When a waft thread 23 has been inserted into a warp shed by gripper shuttle 17 so that the same is located in the turntable shuttle box 27 in the position of FIG. 1, the parts of the appartus are in the position also shown in FIG. 2. Cam follower 11 holds blades 3, 3a in an open position, and control member 6 is in a position located outward of the eye 28a and of weft thread 24 passing through eye 28a of a threading means or thread guide 28 to a supply bobbin, not shown. Weft thread 24 is referred to as a new weft hread, but was previously inserted into a warp shed by pick from the left to the right as viewed in FIG. 1. The old weft thread 23 which has just been inserted through the open warp shed from the right to the left, is still clamped by clamping plate 18 of gripper shuttle 17 abutting a projection of the gripper shuttle. Weft threads 23 and 24 in the initial positions of FIG. 1 are located in the proximity of the open blades 3, 3m.

Thread guide 28 is now operated in a conventional manner well known to those skilled in the art to move toward the gripper shuttle under the control of cam means, not shown, so that the end of thread guide 28 engages clamping plate 18 of gripper shuttle 17 and moves the same 'way from projection 17a so that weft thread 23 is released.

A cam on the cam shaft of the loom, not shown, operates now drive member 16 to turn carrier 12 from the position I shown in FIG. 2 to the position II shown in FIG. 3. During this angular movement, the linkage 14, 6a is displaced, and control member 6 moves from the position of FIG. 2 to the position of FIG. 3 across the end of the released weft yarn 23 and the new weft yarn 24 to push both threads into the open gap between blades 3 and 4, while pulling the released weft yarn 23 out of the open clamping means 18, 17a to a position for being cut by the blades 3 and 4 which have remained spaced from each other in a position of readiness due to the shape of cam slot 25 whose first portion is concentric with the turning axis of carrier 12. Simultaneously, the turnable shuttle box 27 is turned whereby the new weft thread 24 is inserted between the resilient clamping plate 18 and projection 17a, whereupon shuttle box 27 continues its turning movement through so that the point of the gripper shuttle 17 is located in the position in which the clamping rear end of the gripper shuttle is shown in FIG. 1, ready for the next pick toward the right with the inserted weft thread 24 which will be pulled off a supply bobbin, not shown, during the pick.

Before the next pick, however, drive member 16 continues its movement to the position shown in FIG. 4 in which carrier 12 has been further turned to the position IH. Linkage 14, 6a is so designed that there is no substantial change in the position of control member 6, but the second portion of cam slot 25 has such a shape as to guide cam follower 11 and blade 3a relative to blade 3 to a closed cutting position in which both weft threads 24, 23 are cut off simultaneously.

Weft thread 23 is cut off adjacent the warp shed and woven fabric, and the cut off end 9 is blown by the air stream produced by nozzle 5 through the passage 10 and thrown into a waste receptacle.

After the following pick with the new weft thread 24, drive member 16 is moved in the opposite direction to turn carrier 12 with cutting means 3, 3a to the initial position shown in FIG. 2, while the linkage 14, 6a turns control member 6 back to its initial position shown in FIG. 2 so that the apparatus is ready for the next cutting operation after arrival of the next gripper shuttle with a newly inserted weft thread.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of cutting apparatus for weft threads differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a cutting arrangement in which the inserted weft thread, and the newly supplied weft thread are simultaneously cut off, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

We claim:

1. A method of cutting weft threads comprising the steps of inserting a weft thread into a warp shed by a weft inserting member; stopping the weft inserting member outside of said warp shed; releasing the end of the inserted weft thread from the weft inserting member; attaching a new weft thread to said weft inserting member; moving said new weft thread and said end of said inserted weft thread together to a cutting position; and simultaneously cutting said end of said inserted weft thread and said new weft thread between said weft inserting member and said warp shed.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said weft threads are simultaneously cut at the moment in which said new weft thread is attached to said Weft inserting member;

and comprising the step of blowing off the cut off end of said inserted weft thread.

3. Weft thread cutting apparatus comprising, in combination, a weft inserting member for holding an end of a Weft thread for inserting a weft thread into a warp shed; shuttle box means for holding said weft inserting member after a pick outside of said warp shed; threading means for releasing the end of the inserted weft thread from said Weft inserting member held in said shuttle box, and for attaching a new weft thread to said weft inserting member; cutting means located between said shuttle box and the warp shed and being movable along a path to a position of readiness and to a cutting position; control means operable for moving the new weft thread and the released end of the inserted weft thread together to a position to be cut located on said path; and operating means connected with said cutting means and said control means for moving said cutting means along said path while moving said control means toward said path in synchronism with the movement of said cutting means so that the new weft thread and the end of the inserted Weft thread are together placed by said control means in said position to be cut when said cutting means is in said position of readiness, and are cut by said cutting means in said cutting position.

4. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said cutting means include a first blade and a second blade mounted on said first blade for angular cutting movement, said blades being angularly spaced and forming a gap in said position of readiness, and being closed in said cutting position; and wherein said operating means include a carrier for said first blade, drive means for moving said carrier with said cutting means moving along said path, linkage means connecting said carrier with said control means, and actuating cam means for guiding said second blade between said position of readiness and said cutting position during movement of said carrier with said cutting means; and wherein said control means place said end of said inserted weft thread and said new weft thread in said gap.

5. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein said control means includes a control rod crossing said first and second blades in said position of readiness so that said end of said inserted weft thread and said new weft thread are in said gap in said position of readiness of said cutting means.

6. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 and comprising blower means for blowing a stream of air into the region of said cutting means in said cutting position so that the cut off end of said inserted weft thread is blown free of the simultaneously out new weft thread and away from the wrap shed.

7. Weft thread cutting apparatus comprising a weft inserting member for inserting a weft thread into a wrap shed; shuttle box means for holding said weft inserting member after a pick outside of said wrap shed; control means including a thread guide for a new weft thread and being operable for releasing the end of the inserted weft thread from said weft inserting member and for attaching the new weft thread to said weft inserting member, and a control member; cutting means including a first blade, and a second blade mounted on said first blade for angular cutting movement, said cutting means being located between said shuttle box and the wrap shed in a position for receiving and simultaneously cutting off the end of the inserted weft thread and the new weft thread; and operating means including a carrier mounted for turning movement about an axis and supporting said first blade of said cutting means, drive means for angularly reciprocating said carrier with said cutting means, linkage means connecting said carrier with said control member so that the same is actuated for moving the released end of the inserted weft thread and the new weft thread toward said cutting means, and actuating means including a cam for guiding said second blade between an open position and a cutting position during angular movement of said carrier with said cutting means so that said cutting means cuts both weft threads when actuated by said cam after said control member has placed the released end of the weft thread and the new weft thread between said first and said second blades.

8. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said first and second blades of said cutting means have an open position and a closed cutting position; wherein said weft inserting member is located in said shuttle box in a position in which the inserted weft thread extends to the wrap shed between said control member and said cutting means; and wherein said thread guide moves first to a position for releasing the end of the inserted weft thread and then attaches the new weft thread to said weft inserting member in a position in which the new weft thread is located between said control member and said blades in said open position.

9. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said cam includes a plate having a cam slot bounded by edges; and wherein said second blade has a cam follower member guided in said cam slot.

10. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein said carrier has a guide groove; wherein said first blade has a portion slidably fittting into said guide groove and located therein; and including a spring-biased pin for detachably securing said portion of said first blade to said carrier.

11. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said drive means includes an arm pivotally connected with said carrier, wherein said linkage means includes a support lever supported for pivotal movement and carrying said control member, and a link pivotally connected with said support lever and with said carrier so that reciprocation of said arm of said drive means causes angular movement of said support lever with said control member for moving the end of said inserted weft thread and said new weft thread into the gap between said first and second blades in said open position.

12. A weft thread cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said control means include a control rod; and wherein said operating means move said control rod and said cutting means periodically toward and away from each other between a closely spaced position in which said weft threads are cut, and a farther spaced position in which said cutting means is disposed spaced from said wrap shed while said control rod is located outwardly of said threading means and said new weft thread, and of the inserted weft for engaging both weft threads during the following movement toward said cutting means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,315,709 4/1967 Svaty 139-125 3,384,127 5/1968 Ballbe 139302 3,417,793 12/1968 Freihofer 139126 FOREIGN PATENTS 677,255 6/ 1939 Germany.

HENRY S. JAUDON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 1393 03 

